Parcel bag



Patented Aug. 25, 1953 PARCEL BAG Harold I. McMillan, Cohoes, N. Y., assigner to Cohoes Envelope Company, Inc., Cohoes, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application March 31, 1949, Serial No. 84,714

3 Claims.

My invention relates to parcel bags of the sort conveniently employed in retail establishments for wrapping merchandise. Inasmuch as each bag is ordinarily employed but once and is, in effect, given away without direct charge to the customer it is practically necessary to employ relatively inexpensive materials and construction in their manufacture.

In recent years determined efforts have been made to foster the use of paper bags for the carrying of articles hitherto generally wrapped and tied or sealed. Considerable diiculty has been encountered in connection with the development of bags suitable for the safe accommodation of articles of relatively large weight and volume, particularly asymmetrical objects such as shoes, items of hardware, and the like. The most com` mon fault experienced with paper bags for such purposes has been the frequent tearing or rupture of the relatively weak paper of the bag in the vicinity of its'bottom.

The most important object of my invention is effectively and inexpensively to reinforce the bottom area of a conventional paper bag.

Another object of the invention is to provide a paper bag having bottom reinforcement consonant with the requirement that the bag be so formed that it can be folded ilat for shipment in stack formation.

An important feature of the invention resides in a bag having front and rear walls, a bottom, and a hinged panel or platform secured to one wall adjacent the bottom and so mounted that it is normally folded fiat between and parallel to the front and rear walls but will automatically unfold with the expansion of the bag to assume an inclined position where it will first encounter an entering article and then be driven down by it until the panel comes to rest against the bottom of the bag. 'in the latter position the panel combines with the bag bottom to support the contained article.

These and other objects and features of the invention will be more readily understood and appreciated from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of a bag constructed in accordance with my invention,

Fig. 2 is a view in cross-section along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a View in perspective of a fully opened bag.

As will appear in the drawing, the bag comprises essentially a long sheet of paper folded in the center to provide a front panel or wall Il, and a rear wall I0 secured together along their edges in an overlapped cemented joint. The walls are creased and folded to form bellows side walls I3 and I4, while the bottom I2 is folded and creased to form a central fold line 25 and corner tucks effective to provide a conventional bellows type of bag structure.

The upper end portions of the bag walls Il) v and II may, if desired, be subjected to any suitable processing resulting in the provision of carrying handles. For example, in the drawing I have shown the wall I0 as brought higher than the wall II to form a foldable protective cover iiap Il, while both walls are patched with reinforcing material and cut to form conventional handle members I5 and I6.

What has thus far been described is entirely conventional and merely illustrates one convenient form of bag structure to which the device of my invention may conveniently be applied.

The reinforcement of my invention includes a flat rectangular panel or strip of satisfactorily stout paper or cardboard creased to form a center stifiener 2@ bounded at each end by an integral flap or One flange I9, defined by the crease 2|, is glued or cemented to the wall II in such relationship that the crease line 2| coincides with the crease line 24 at the corner between the bottom I2 and the wall Il. The remainder of the reinforcing member is unsecured and free to swing about the line 2l as a hinge. v

As the bag is being made, the reinforcing member is cemented in place and then folded over to lie flat upon the wall II, the free end flap 23 then being in the plane of the center piece 20 but ready to swing about its crease line 22. Bags of this sort are ordinarily cut, folded, and cemented in one machine which discharges the flat bags sequentially into a bin or receiver in which they are stacked and jogged into neat bundles for shipment. The integral sections of the reinforcing member then lie at upon and parallel to the side Walls of the bag.

When a single bag is removed from its stack and partially opened as shown in Fig. 2, the center piece swings outwardly about the hinge or crease line 2| to diagonal position, while ange 23 also swings a trifle about the crease line 22 to lie at on the wall I0. This action of the reinforcing member is the natural and automatic result of the resiliency inherent in most paper products.

flange defined by a transverse crease.

When an article, such as a shoe, is introduced into the bag, it encounters the piece 2S and swings it out and down about the line 2! until the panel 29 comes to rest on the flat bottom of the bag. In the meantime, the nap 23 slides down the far wall I9 and also swings about the line 22 until it comes to rest perpendicular to the center pieceii, The reinforcing member -is then U-shaped and spans the bottom i2.

In this condition it should be noted that the reinforcing member serves two functions. It combines with the bottom I2 to stiffen it .and take the thrust and weight of the article in the bag and prevent rupture of thebottom. Moreover the two now-vertical naps I9 and'12-3 protect the bottom areas of the side walls, easily absorbing the shearing stresses encountered particularly from articles wider than the bag bottom.

The width of the reinforcing member'is not critical; as shown herein, it occupies the center half of the bag bottom, but it may be extended substantially to cover the entire bottom, if -desired.

Having thus disclosed my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure Aby Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A collapsible bag comprising front, rear and gusseted side walls, a bottom, and a panel of relatively stiff resilient material having a width no greater than the distance between the inwardly extending gussets when the bag is in collapsed position creased to form an end ange secured Vto only one of said iirst two mentioned walls -adjacent the bottom with the crease extending along the lower edge to which it is secured, said s panel being folded upon itself about the crease `in the collapsed position of the bag to be substantially flat between the walls thereof, the panel being sufliciently resilient to swing out and Ydown automatically as the bag is opened and be forced against the bottom of the bag by the weight of an article inserted therein.

2. A collapsible bag comprising front `and'rear walls and a bottom, and a panel of relatively Stiii resilient material creased adjacent one end to form a ange cemented to one of said walls adjacent the bottom with the crease extending ing -suiilciently resilient to automatically swing outand -down asthe bag is opened and come to rest upon the bottom of the bag as a U-shaped `3. A collapsible bag comprising front, rear end gusseted sidewalls, a bottom and a panel of relatively sti-ff resilient material having a width no -greaterthan the Adistance between the inwardly extending gussets when the bag is in collapsed position creased adjacent one end to form an end iiange secured to only one of said rst two mentioned walls adjacent the bottom with the crease extending along the lower edge to which it is secured, and creased adjacent the opposite end to form an intermediate portion equal to the width of the;bottom and an end flange to engage the inner face of the opposite bag wall, the panel being folded upon itself about the rst crease in the collapsed position of the bag to be substantially fiiat ,between the walls thereof, the panel being sufliciently resilient to swing out anddown automatically as the bag is opened and be forced against the bottom of the bag by the weight of an article inserted therein.

HAROLD I. MCMILLAN.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS lNumber Name Date 308,418 Lockwood Nov. 25, 1884 775,048 Stevenson Nov. l5, 1904 '952,302 `Brenner Mar. l5, 1910 2,112,406 Metro Mar. 29, 1938 2,195,369 Innes Mar. 26, 1940 2,272,938 Ferrante Feb. 10, 1942 'FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 9,906 Great Britain 1905 429,241 Great Britain May 27, 1935 

